Despite all the nifty, gee-whiz technology that the Web 2.0 craze brought the software industry, it's still stodgy enterprise software that continues to command a significant price tag. That's because however much we may enjoy Facebooking, Twittering, etc., ultimately we pay for what helps us get our jobs done.

Even so, just a few years ago, if you were a startup focused on enterprise IT, VCs treated you like a leper, preferring to invest in something with a name like Bungabooboo.com to something that could shave 10 percent from a CIO's operating costs. The one way to get funding for enterprise software was to approach the market in a decidedly Web 2.0 way: open source. With the recession still in full bloom, open-source companies like Red Hat are cleaning up...